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"Lightning Clones"

After about ten minutes I got back to my feet.

“Look,” I said to Xoris, “I just saved myself and I also saved you. I am powerful now, but do not ever ask me to cause harm to anyone that is innocent.”

“I thank you for saving me,” Xoris said, “but do not forget that you might be powerful, but I exercise power over you. Harming the innocent is not something I care to spend my time on… as long as there is no benefit I can derive from such an action at least.”

I spotted a one-eyed head in the distance. The one-eyed god and his brothers began to approach me, the warriors were beside them. All of them looked very wary.

“You were talking about a rabbit,” three-eyed said to the one-eyed god, “these are humans!”

“I… must have drunk too much rum,” one-eyed admitted.

“You two!” three-eyed shouted to me and Mintuk. “How dare you get inside the castle grounds? And what did you do to the lightning device?”

“We do not feel the need to make any explanations to you,” Mintuk barked back.

One of the warriors pointed excitedly at Mintuk and began to make snorting sounds as though the warrior was speaking something.

“He was the one who skinned your brother to death by using some spell?” three-eyed asked the warrior ape. The ape nodded earnestly. Wrath overcame the three-eyed god’s face.

“You two shall be taken to the dungeons and there you shall rot for the rest of your lives,” three-eyed said. “I should have taken my brother seriously when he talked about the giant rabbit. It seems there are worse creatures than giant rabbits that have come to our castle. It’s time that I exercise my powers.”

Mintuk raised his hand again, as though to cast a spell at the god. However, the branch of a tree moved as though it was the arm of an animal and hit him on the face. Suddenly all the vegetation present in the castle ground seemed to come to life and the trees nearest to us began to approach us, using their roots for movement. I remembered that even the gods had been scared of the clones. The gods might not be scared of the spells that Mintuk had gained from his rituals, but they were definitely scared of their own powers.

However, I was not sure if I should use my new powers against the three gods and the warrior apes. I couldn’t any see fault in them. They were just being protective. We were the ones who had come to their castle and caused pandemonium.

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“What? Are you waiting to be taken to the dungeons?” Xoris said inside my head. “Act fast! Remember it is me who is controlling you. Do you want to experience the pain when you can do without it?”

I sighed. I did not want to be taken to a dungeon, regardless of whose fault it was. I selected the third option from the ‘Lightning’ icon. I felt the familiar rush of power and the next moment electricity had shot out of my hand and taken the form of a person exact to me in shape but half my size.

Congratulations! You have created a lightning clone. It will listen to your every command!

And then I created a second and a third clone. I made both of them of 5 strength, such that they were more powerful than the clones that had been created when I had merged the lightning device with myself the wrong way.

The trees backed away from me and the clones.

The three-eyed god looked with his three wide eyes at me and the clones.

“Nobody is taking us to the dungeons,” I said.

“Put the gods and the warriors in the dungeons instead,” Xoris said to me.

“But they have done nothing wrong to us!” I protested to Xoris.

“Do not forget that we came to the castle with my purpose. My purpose has not been fulfilled yet,” Xoris said, “Do not complain too much against my decision. I am not asking you to kill the gods or even their minions. I am just asking you to put them in the dungeons for a while. I would probably let them go once my purpose in the castle is done.”

I didn’t make any move. I didn’t want to follow this particular command of Xoris. The castle belonged to the gods and my conscience didn’t like the idea of imprisoning them in their own dungeons.

“So, you won’t obey me, eh?” Xoris said to me. Intense pain gripped my body. It was as worse as the pain that Xoris had first inflicted on me to make me travel south. I fell to my knees and cried out, tears forming in my eyes. My entire body throbbed with the pain.

“Okay, okay,” I begged Xoris, “I’ll do as you say.”

“Good. I think I will have to keep subjecting you to the pain in the future so you stop going against me,” Xoris said and he removed the pain. I inhaled deeply. I had forgotten to breathe all the time Xoris was inflicting the pain on me. The three clones were looking at me uncertain as to how they should help me. I thought quickly over what Xoris had asked me to do. He was certainly not asking me to kill anyone innocent and I decided to follow his command. A part of my mind told me that I was simply being weak and couldn’t stand against Xoris. I decided to ignore that part of my mind for now, even though I felt that part of my mind was speaking the truth.

“He’s odd,” the one-eyed god was saying. “First he creates lightning clones of himself and tells us we cannot take them to the dungeons and then he falls to his knees and begins to cry out in pain.”

“For once I must agree with you, brother,” three-eyed said.

“I wish I could see the idiot,” the blind god said.

“Yes, let your eye stay with me and keep wishing that you could see,” three-eyed said sarcastically.

“Shut up, you all,” I said to the three gods. Then I turned at my clones. “Take them to their dungeons and lock them there,” I ordered.

“You cannot do that to us!” one-eyed cried. “We are the owners of this castle!” And he came marching towards me. The three clones grabbed him. Their mere touch was enough to cause first degree burns all about the body of the god and make him unconscious. At my command however the clones let go of the one-eyed god and he wasn’t harmed further. The other two brothers came running.

“Are you all right?” the three-eyed brother cried tapping the cheeks of the one-eyed god. One-eyed was still breathing. I felt a tinge of pity for the brothers and turned to Mintuk.

“Can you heal him?” I asked him.

“What for?” Mintuk asked with a frown.

“I wanted to display my powers to them, but I did not really want to harm any of them,” I explained. Mintuk looked somewhat confused. But he went to the fallen god and placed a hand on the god’s chest. Within moments the burns of the one-eyed god had healed.

“I cannot believe I healed a god,” Mintuk said, standing up.

“Now,” I spoke to the three gods, “kindly lead us to the dungeons so that we can imprison you there.”